S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold share Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR) has been lagging most of its competitors over the past few months.
Despite a fast-rising gold price, the Gold Road share price has gained a modest 4.5% over the past month. That's well below the 12.6% gain posted by the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold Index (ASX: XGD) over this same period.
Today Gold Road shares, and the All Ords Gold Index, are both in the red.
At the time of writing the Gold Road share price is down 0.5%, at $1.61.
This comes following the release of the ASX 200 gold share's quarterly update for the three months ending 31 March.
Read on for the highlights.
Image source: Getty Images
ASX 200 gold share slips on production decline
Gold Road's production stems from the Gruyere Gold Mine in Western Australia, a 50:50 joint venture with Gruyere Mining Company.
The ASX 200 gold share reported that over the quarter just past, Gruyere delivered quarterly gold production of 64,323 ounces (on a 100% basis). That's down 14% from the 74,659 ounces produced in the last quarter, with March quarterly production impacted by inclement weather.
Costs were up too.
The miner's All-in-Sustaining Cost (AISC) came in at $2,194 per attributable ounce, an increase of 11% from $1,973 per ounce in the December quarter.
As for sales, the ASX 200 gold share sold 32,325 ounces of the yellow metal at an average price of $3,137 per ounce for sales revenue of $101.4 million.
That's down from 37,037 ounces of gold sold in the December quarter. However, the average price increased from the $3,040 per ounce achieved last quarter, when the miner brought in $112.6 million in revenue.
Management noted that gold sales for the quarter do not include 1,825 ounces of gold doré and bullion held in inventory on 31 March.
Gold Road's attributable operating cash flow from Gruyere for the quarter was $57.9 million. Capital expenditure was $27.0 million.
Free cash flow was $5.5 million for the quarter, down from $13.8 million in the previous quarter.
As at 31 March, Gold Road held cash and equivalents of $146 million with no debt drawn.
Gold Road share price snapshot
As you can see on the chart at the top of this article, the Gold Road share price took a big hit early in the year following reports of production issues at Gruyere.
The ASX 200 gold share has yet to recover from those losses, with shares down 17% year to date.
